I feel safe walking around my own neighborhood late at night. I have never been followed around a clothing store by a security guard. I have never witnessed someone of my own race victimized on video. My family has never been targeted by the police for crimes we did not commit.

I’ve always been aware that I have privilege as a white woman in America, but looking into the eyes of people I deeply care about and hearing their cries as they speak to their experiences of what I listed above -- I wasn’t just aware of my privilege. I felt my privilege crawling along my every limb.

Classes and support services were moved online from campus mid-March, and students have been home for almost 3 months.

When socio-political issues come in the form of a tragedy, such as the evolving Ahmaud Arbery case, colleges and universities often provide a breathing ground for expression and discussion.

Do you know how the Ringling Brothers Circus used to train elephants?

I didn’t, until about a week ago. For the first six months of their lives, baby elephants would be restrained with steel chains and forced to stand on concrete floors for up to 23 hours a day. After months of attempting to escape these tethers to no avail, the elephants would give up and assume they would forever be restrained. As they reached adulthood, much weaker tethers were put in place; however, the elephants did not attempt to break free from them because of the traumatic failures they ensued when trying to escape previously.

Does this resonate with anybody else right now?

It's hard enough living in a world that already has such a racial prejudice against you. People of color, including myself, are making conscious decisions everyday about the way that we present and show up in the world and how we are perceived by others, especially the police.

Sometimes being Native American feels like you are a walking and talking mythical creature. It's as if you're not even a real person because Natives are mostly heard of only in historical contexts as well as only being known by their stereotypes. But those historical contexts have consequences for the present.

I cannot remember the last time I struggled so deeply to push a button. I cannot remember the last time a green icon instigated such intense feelings of guilt and indecision.

COVID-19 has escalated more and more over the last few weeks, with more than 500,000 cases in the US and 1.6 million cases worldwide. Everyone is told to stay at home and practice social distancing to avoid spreading the virus. As we are moving into the fourth week of quarantine, people are probably beginning to feel the effects of isolation on their mental health.

March marks the United State’s 33rd Annual Women’s History Month. This past Sunday was International Women’s Day (IWD), and people all across the globe used the day to publicly declare their advocacy and dedication to the advancement of women’s rights.

In Mexico, protestors marched against elevating rates of femicide, while Islamic women in Pakistan chanted “my body, my choice” through the streets. The Philippines, Turkey, Mexico, the United States, and many other countries showed public consideration for the day.

A display case of letters written by the famous women’s rights activist, Alice Stone Blackwell, attracted a small crowd of museum visitors on Thursday March 5, during the grand opening of the “All Is Possible: Women’s Suffrage in California” Exhibition at the Santa Monica History Museum. The exhibition is open in tandem with Women’s History Month and will run until June 6.

Streaming giant Netflix has released their most heartbreaking true crime series yet. The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez is a limited six-part series that explores the life and death of eight-year old Palmdale boy, Gabriel Fernandez. Fernandez's mother, Pearl Fernandez, tortured and killed him, with the help of her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre.

We live in the Age of Information. Since the rise of the internet and smartphones, search engines and Siri, virtually all of the public knowledge in the world can be accessed in a matter of seconds. However, does quantity of information equate to quality?

Imagine waking up to a world plagued by drought and engulfed in the flames of a never-ending wildfire. Where the warming of our world’s oceans has caused every coastal home and building to be enveloped by the sea. Species all over the world have been met with extinction, as Earth falls into chaos. All because of the hamburger you ate for lunch and the eggs you had for breakfast.

Let me start this by saying I hope this article will show some of you reading this that you are not alone.

I have, at a handful of points in my life, battled suicidal thoughts. In fact, I have almost committed suicide. It has been quite a while since I have had any of those thoughts, but having them in the first place is still something I don’t like to admit, even to myself. There are three times that I can vividly recall almost committing suicide and without going into detail, I can attribute my very rational fear of making that decision as the only reason I am here today. It truly is something else when you feel there is no hope, and as far as you can see there is no way out.

On Oct. 26, 2019 people from all over Los Angeles came together to honor Terry Fox at the Santa Monica Terry Fox Run to help raise money and awareness for cancer research.

The Santa Monica Terry Fox Run is a 5km race that takes place annually on the Venice Boardwalk, right across from the Shutters Hotel.

Terry Fox was a Canadian athlete and cancer research advocate, who lost his leg in 1977 during his battle with bone cancer at the age of 18 years old. Terry Fox’s first hand battle with cancer inspired him to run the length of Canada, with a prosthetic leg, starting on the east coast in St. John, Newfoundland to raise money for cancer research in what he called the “Marathon of Hope.”

We need to celebrate Veterans Day, not only on one day, but every day. I’m writing this paper because a survey came out that says 22 veterans commit suicide every day. I am a veteran of the United States Marine Corp. and on Aug. 4, 2019 I had surgery on my knee. On Aug. 26, the first day of school, all hell broke loose.

Within the next couple of weeks, Santa Monica College (SMC) students will be undergo the worst portion of the semester: midterm exam time. During this time period, SMC students will experience sleepless nights, stressful mornings, and long days. Many will be drowning in class notes and textbooks, forming large study groups.

The Santa Monica College Corsairs Women’s Soccer team fell to the Santa Barbara Vaqueros 2-1 for their first loss of the 2019 season September 24, 2019. This loss also marked an end to a home game winning streak of two games.

In Hong Kong, pro-democracy camp's protest marches have filled the streets for over one hundred days. The often violent clashes between Hong Kong citizens and riot police cracking down on protesters is a thorn in the side of Beijing. The authoritarian regime on the mainland desires to display the face of calm unity in its celebration of the 70th anniversary of the declaration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on Oct. 1.

Architect, artist and designer Candy Chang, alongside writer and graphic designer James A. Reeves, are responsible for creating the Annenberg Space for Photography’s first ever public art installation to hit the streets of Los Angeles. This installation was made up of three walls, which were located at different landmarks across the city. Each wall represented a different emotion.